Blaming 'broken promises' from unmotivated politicians, nonprofit dramatically scales back its global conferences
By Julie Masis
Posted with permission from The Times of Israel
Limmud FSU, the nonprofit that organizes conferences for Russian-speaking Jews around the world, is scaling back its activities due to lack of financing.
The Limmud FSU gathering in New York, which attracted more than 1,000 participants this year, will be shortened from a three-day Shabbat weekend to a one day event next year, said Natasha Chechik, the organization’s communications director.
Conferences in Canada, Israel, and Belarus will also be downsized to one day, she said, and plans to bring the Russian-Jewish conference to smaller cities in North America, including Boston and Montreal, have been … [Read more...]

By Dvir Kahana
We live in the most miraculous of times. We, the Jewish people, built a state from the ashes of exile and have achieved unprecedented success as leaders in all fields of life. However, it is from this unique reality that a global Jewish catastrophe is brewing before our eyes. For the first time in history the vast majority of Jews face a daunting choice: to remain Jewish or disregard it. Most are opting out.
Beyond this great challenge lies a deepening crisis developing between the State of Israel and the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora, the Jews of North America. Many outstanding individuals across the spectrum have toiled day and night to heal this wound, to inspire hearts and minds and to preserve and secure the future of the Jewish people.
To our dismay, a number … [Read more...]

EILAT, Israel, Dec.24 - Limmud FSU Israel marked a decade of educational work with young Russian-speaking Jews in the Holy Land with a three-day Jewish volunteer-driven festival of learning in Israel’s southernmost city, Eilat. The dynamic and pluralistic event gathered 2,000 participants and ran starting Thursday through Saturday night.
The 10th Limmud FSU Israel festival featured hundreds of lectures, workshops, presentations and discussions by leading figures, including businessman and philanthropist Aaron Frenkel, the president of Limmud FSU, CEO and Executive-Vice President of the World Jewish Congress Robert Singer, Chairman of “HaMachane HaTzioni ” Avi Gabbay , Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau, Member of Knesset Yair Lapid, 20th Chief of Staff of the IDF General Benny (Benyamin) … [Read more...]

Some 300 Jewish communal leaders and finance professionals, including a number who traveled from Israel, attended the first Jewish Impact Investing Summit in New York City on Dec. 5, 2017. The event was designed and hosted by JLens, an investor network that explores a Jewish lens on investing and serves as the bridge between the Jewish community and the impact investing movement.
“Historically the values-based investing movement has not included the organized Jewish community,” said Julie Hammerman, JLens’ Executive Director. “The Summit sought to change this by exploring impact investing through a uniquely Jewish lens.”
The summit began with a session entitled “Rabbinic Insights on Investment and Business as a Force for Good” with Rabbis Yitz Greenberg, Julie Schonfeld, and Aaron … [Read more...]

By Ayal Beer
[This article is the fifth in a series written by participants in the Senior Educators Cohort at M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education.]
As an Israeli educator working with North American Jewish organizations, programs, and groups, I have been involved in the discussions about how to keep the next-gen demographic involved in Jewish life. I have heard this demographic described as being “under the radar” and not actively participating in Jewish life. The response of the community - investing resources in initiatives such as Moishe House and Base Hillel, among others, has been powerful to watch and learn from.
In Israel, Next Gen engagement is different: this age group is serving in the IDF, traveling post-army, attending college - and they are participating in … [Read more...]

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) has awarded $1.65 million through its annual Israel Grants program to strengthen the country’s Jewish identity and advance economic development and self-sufficiency, including programs focused on at-risk youth.
Since 2010, The Foundation has distributed grants in Israel totaling close to $9 million to nearly 60 organizations. The Foundation, the largest manager of charitable assets and planned giving solutions for Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists, awards its Israel Grants to organizations that possess a strong track record of creating meaningful change, have achievable outcomes, affect a significant number of people or regions, and offer opportunities for partnerships with other funders.
2017 Israel Grant recipients … [Read more...]

After decades of liaising between Israeli and Diaspora Jews, Avraham Infeld declares the current crisis in ties ‘unprecedented,’ and says Israel should set up a 'reverse Birthright.'
By Judy Maltz
Haaretz.com
Soon after the Six-Day War in 1967, Avraham Infeld became the first Jewish Agency shaliah to be sent to the United States. Those were great times to be representing the Jewish state, he recalls.
“I watched as Israel became the unifying factor in the Jewish world,” says Infeld, a renowned Israeli educator who has devoted his life to advancing the concept of Jewish peoplehood.
He recently returned to his old stomping grounds for a lecture tour marking the 50th anniversary of the famous Israeli victory but was struck by how much the mood had changed.
“I found that Israel had … [Read more...]

By Charles R Bronfman & Michael Steinhardt
When we began the planning for Birthright Israel in 1998, we had two dominant thoughts. How could we avoid the noble mistakes made in past Israel experience programs, limiting their impact to fairly paltry numbers? How could we build a movement that assured growth and scale so that one day, it could achieve its primary objective of bringing every eligible young adult on their first living and learning trip to Israel?
We needed a tight-loose-tight organization; one that could weather the inevitable challenges and be resilient in recovery, always locking into this mission and vision. Whether the second intifada, or a Government cut of 90% in one year, or active opposition to the very concept of Birthright on some campuses, our talented staff and … [Read more...]

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